CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio) -- About a dozen Chicago hotels are still closed as the hospitality industry struggles to recover, and the trade association that represents them wants the city to help out with some federal money.
City government is expecting money from the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law by President Biden last month.
Michael Jacobson, the president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, on Wednesday said he hopes the city will give hotels about 3% of that — or $75 million.
“What we’re finding is that there’s kind of a chicken-or-egg scenario, where hotels need to rehire people just to reopen their doors and turn their lights back on. But they don’t have the working capital to do so since they’ve been shut down for the last year.”
Jacobson said this would be short-term aid so that hotels could rehire workers.
He says so far, talks with city officials have been encouraging.
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